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Noel Kreiss Returns in Lightning Returns

September 4th, 2013 by Tony Garsow

We’ve known for a while that Noel Kreiss will be returning to the third and final installment of the Final Fantasy XIII series, and today he makes his rounds on the Japanese mag circuit. In the trailers we’ve seen since now, Noel has found himself in the city of Luxerion — and not on friendly terms with the Savior. It seems that the five-hundred years that have elapsed since the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2 have taken their toll on the hunter. Noel seemingly blames himself for Etro’s death and the chaos that transpires afterward after what he labels as the “ultimate sin”. Apparently the “hunter of darkness” seeks to maintain a sense of security in Luxerion as the final days wane and that puts him at odds with Lightning, and we see the two clash in cutscene and combat.

We’ll encounter more familiar faces from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy in Lightning Returns, including Vanille who is also in Luxerion. She has some connection to the Salvation Council, a group garbed in white that works against the Savior. Fang will return as the leader of the Monoculus bandits that scour the desert for relics, and Snow is the Focus-bound l’Cie of a fal’Cie based in Yusnaan. While the people of the city choose to live out the rest of their days with celebration, it seems that Snow has little reason to after centuries without Serah.

Sazh and his son Dajh will be found in the Wildlands, though Dajh has been asleep for the five centuries between the second game and present day. As Sazh explains, Dajh remains a sleep because his soul is no longer with him. Hope Estheim is also back, resembling his appearance in Final Fantasy XIII. This is an act of God, or Bhunivelze as he is known in the XIII universe. The same God that sends Lightning on her journey to save humanity and lead them to a new world. Hope will provide Lightning with various quests from the Ark – a place outside the realm of Nova Chysalia that is exempt from the ticking clock before the end of the world. His quests involve saving souls of humanity to restore light to Yggdrasil – a massive tree that can restore time before the end – up to a maximum of thirteen days.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII releases on November 21st in Japan, February 11th in North America, and February 14th in Europe. The game will be available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a digital version available on PlayStation Network.

They should have seriously gave some of the old characters new cloths. You can’t tell me they wore the same thing for years. But that’s not the point, it feels like Square is just using the same things to push a third game out fast.

AnimaMagna

@Xi
It’s not just budget; it has symbolic meanings if you think about it. Just think: in a way Noel is stuck in his past, unable to move on from what he considers as his failure. Fang is still the same old happy-go-lucky sort who lives in a harsh environment, Sazh is completely smothered by concern for his son. Hope you can blame on Bhunivelze, turning back time and sticking him in a static environment. Besides, we haven’t seen Vanille, Caius or this mysterious new character yet.

@Tony Garsow
By the way, the latest info from the location trailers is that the Salvation Council is at least the Japanese name for the worshipers of Bhunivelze, not the rebel cult. Just thought you aught to know.

http://ZP2U alexsam

Although I may get stoned to death for saying this, Noel Kreiss remains one of my favorite characters in the FF franchise. I enjoyed his character, his backstory and his development throughout XIII-2. I think he and Caius were the best things about the game. It’s gonna be hard to fight him in LR, but I think he sounds COMPLETELY badass when he says the line about committing the *ultimate sin*. The only thing I could pit against him is that he’s a bit slow. Caius told him his entire plan and yet Noel still fell for it. Oh well…

Btw, also can’t wait to see Caius again! Fave FF villain next to Seph.

Ehren

@Tony: What AnimaMagna said. In the location trailers Hope and Lightning talk about the Salvation Council. (The people with the gold heart logo, and the white robes with black hoods) I believe they are being localized as The Order. Apparently they are the followers of Bhunivelze, who run the city of Luxerion and seem to also have some kind of governmental connection with Yusnaan. Furthermore, it revealed that the Salvation Council sends people into the ruins in the Dead Dunes looking for a very special artifact.

Bekas

@Alexsam
I feel the same about Noel <3 I love his character and I'm crossing my fingers reaaaaaaaaaally hard that he's going to end up safe after all of this.

I'm just happy we finally have some more Noel news. I hated that they told us that he was drowning in guilt and that he was the shadow hunter and then kinda forgot about him, while they still haven't shut up about Snow and his plight.
Now we're only missing Vanille!

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